Weeder



J. M. ST. JOHN. WEEDER.

ARPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1917.

1,328,063. Patented Jan. 13, 192 0.

I" I v 7.

zJ t J 10 7 3w 9 JUSTIN M. ST. JOHN, OIE CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA.

WEEDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 13, 1920.

Application filed June 21, 1917. Serial No. 175,990.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JUSTIN M. ST. J OHN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Cedar Rapids, in the county of. Llnn and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Weeders; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skllled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to implements for the pulling of weeds and hasfor 1ts ob ect to produce a weeder of very slmple and 1nexpensiveconstruction, which is adapted to easily and rapidly extract such weedsas dandelion, plantain, and the like, removing the whole root, and butlittle of the ad acent soil.

The nature of the invention is fully disclosed in the description andclaims following, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, inwhich Figure 1 is a front view of a weeder embodying the invention, in'position for use.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, in weedholdingposition. 3 is a view1n perspective, showing a simple type of e ector. Fig. 4: is a sectionthrough the handle, showing the top of the head, with the foot bracketattached to the head and handle. Fig. 5 is a section in a vertical planethrough the middle of the head and bracket. Figs. 6 and 7 are sectionsdiagonal to the head, and showing both straight and ncurved prongs.Figs. 8 and 9 are bottom views of the figures just above them. I

To a wooden handle 1, which both for lightness and cheapness ispreferred to metal, is attached the working head of the tool. Inpractice this is formed of a square of sheet metal 2, piercedequidlstantly at three or more points, preferably four, to receive asmany prongs 3. 'Thes'e may be ordinary wire spikes, those known as 16-penny being well suited to the purpose. The heads of these spikes areheld 1n place by folding over two opposite corners 4 of the squares, asshown in Fig. 4. One corner is folded back to an oblique posltion, asshown at 5, and serves as a slight brace for the head as attached to thehandle, as well as to give a finished appearance to the back side of thehead. To the other, flat cornerfi, is riveted a right-angled bracket 7,which serves as one of the principal means for attaching the head to thehandle, and as a foot-piece, when foot pressure on the tool is required.The head is. also securedto the handle by a wood-screw 8, as shown inFig. 5. As hung in the head the spikes may move freely in any directionexcept endwise.

Attached to a suitable push-rod, which will be described resently, is afoot-plate 9, pierced to recelve the prongs, but with shorter spacesbetween the holes than are those of the head, so that normally, with thefoot at the lower ends of the prongs, in working position, as shown inFig. 1, the prongs converge somewhat. The footplate is secured rigidlyto a push-rod 10, of which Fig. 3 is one of the simplest type, being aloop of stout wire, outturned at 11 for a hand-piece,.and clenched at 12through holes in the foot-plate. This serves the purpose very well, ifthe tool be used with care, and is inexpensive in manufacture, beingattached slidably to the sides of the handle by staples, as indicated.But as the prongs mayswing freely in any direction, the push-rod mustalso serve as their sole support against lateral movement, and a stillmore objectionable tendency to twist. The type of push-rod shown inFigs. 1 and 2 is therefore preferred in practice. This is the hardwarestock known as halfoval, and has the desired stifiness edgewise, and isalso strong enough in the other direction for all practical purposes.This is riveted fast to the foot-plate, two rivets being used, topositively prevent any twist of the late. The body of the push-rod maypass through notches 13 or holes 14 in the head, and also be heldslidably under ears 15 of a band 16 attached to the handle. Or widestaples may be used, as they have been in actual manufacture. Part wayup the handle the side members of the rod are shown riveted to a sleeve17 free to slide on the handle. The sleeve serves for the convenientconnection of a light spring 1.8, whose other end may be attachedadjustably to the lower part of the handle," as to staples 19. The upperend of the long leg of the push-rod might end as a simple ham" piece, asdoes thepush-rod shown in Fig. 3, and this ordinarily serves very wellfor a sureon the hand-lever.

direct hand-piece by which to eject the weed. 7 been found practicallynecessary to provide leverage for the initial movement in ejecting theweed. It will sometimes happen that a large, tough root will be caughtby the prongs and gripped so tightly that the foot-plate can only bestarted from its frictional position by .either a smart blow or forciblepressure on the push-rod. The latter is supplied by a vshort hand-lever20, whose foot is mounted to run on a stirrup 21 attached to the handle.Once started, the movement of the ejector is easy. In Fig. 2 the leveris shown in position for starting, which may be done with little pres-The tilt of the lever is limited in both directions, a loop or shoulder22 of the push-rod abutting at 23 in one position, and at 24c intheother. When the latter takes place the lever v of course slides alongthe stirrup.

It is; to be noted that the spring 18' is a mere auxiliary to the manualoperation of ejecting the weed. To depend upon a spring to overcome thefrictional grip of the i foot-plate on the prongs is regarded as impractical, since experiment has shown that in some cases a pressure offrom to 4O pounds is required to release this grip, and to overcome thispressure each time in weeding is to impose too much labor on theoperator. As. the tool herein described is manufactured, the lightspring is dispensed with, its only practical use, being to throvv theejector afterbeing manually started, so the operator need not move thehand so far in the ejecting operation. To that extent its action is verysatisfactory, but as no catch for the push-rod in gripping positionisneeded or desired, the'presence of the spring would cause troubleunless the operator were careful each time to push down hard enough toovercome its tension by the frictional grip of the foot-plate. This isneedless in light weeding, for under all conditions, and whether theworking push be light or heavy, the frictional grip may be depended uponto hold 'thefingers (prongs) convergedjand thus prevent the escape ofthe inclosed root. j

It is also regarded as important that the fingers be stiff. If madeflexible, their elas:

In actual service, however, it has found to be best, since they drawtogether very closely, as shown in Fig. 9. making two of the fingerslong and the other pair short, as shown in Fig. 6 both pairs will closetightly together, as indicated in Fig. 8.

By forming the fingers with incurves, as shown in Fig. 7 a somewhatlonger gripon the root may be obtained, the construction being betteradapted for small than for large roots.

Unless the ground be very dry and hard the foot bracket is not needed,the.,toolworking very easily, and the pressure of one hand beingordinarily suflicient. The bracket cannotwell be dispensed with,however, and its presence makes it possible for the operator to overdothe pressure, which has a tendency to force the prongs together with atwist, lapping past each other at the points. This is not only bad forthe tool,

but is apt toperinit the escape sidewise of the root sought to bepulled. To prevent this the movement of the foot plate on the prongs islimited by a'stop 25,.so=located as'to permitthepoints of the prongs tofully converge radially, but not to cross each other.

Having thus described my invention, I I

claim: I 'I g p "1. A weedeiy comprismg a l1ead, a series of prongsmounted loosely there1n, a footplate cooperating with the prongs andhead 1- to converge the points of the prongsfas they are projectedthrough said plate, and a guide for said foot-plate.

2. A weeder, comprising a head, a series of rigid prongs mounted looselytherein, afootplate through which the prongs project at a convergingangle,- and means adapted to guide the foot-plate'axially with respectto thehead; i" is 3. A weeder, comprisinga head, a series of rigidprongs mounted loosely therein, a foot-plate through which th prongsproject at 1 a converging angle, and means adapted toguide thefoot-plate axially with respect to the head, and without rotary motion,:1

whereby the prongs are caused to converge connected prongs normallyconverging v downwardly, a foot-plate slidable. thereon, and a*co'nnectedm push-rod, a hand-lever connected with the. push-rod,andi'having a limited pivotal movement thereon, and a stirrup attachedto the handle, and forming 1 a slide-bearing and term'inalstops for saidlever.

'6. In a weeder, the combination of a liendle, head, connected, looselyhung prongs,

a f00t-p1ate holding the prongs in normally In testimony whereof I aflb;my signature cfinverging poslition, and1 slidable along in presence oftWo Witnesses.

t em, a manna 1y operab e push-rod connected with the foot-plate andadapted to JUSTIN JOHN prevent axial rotation thereof, and a stopWitnesses:

to limit the upward movement of the foot S. M. LANGWORTHY,

plate. JAMES O. BREDLE'.

